


i fell in love with her in stages

by ssweet__dispositionn



Category: Coronation Street
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, i know the kana fandom is non-existent but here we are, kate is a bit of a Gay Mess, they are soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssweet__dispositionn/pseuds/ssweet__dispositionn
Summary: Somewhat of a re-telling of their first meeting.
Relationships: Kate Connor & Rana Habeeb Nazir, Kate Connor/Rana Habeeb Nazir
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	i fell in love with her in stages

**Author's Note:**

> yes i know the kana fandom is largely not a Thing anymore but i've had this sitting in my files for about a year now, and since the current situation is .. a thing that is Happening, i just thought i might as well share it--even if it's just for myself.

Kate walked to the Nazirs’ house with a spring in her step. When Zeedan had asked her to help with Alya’s birthday plans, she was happy to help.

She wanted to make it a memorable, special occasion for Alya as she knew of all the family hardships that had plagued her recently. Thanks to the endless list of ‘Connor catastrophes,’ as Kate had labelled them, she sympathised with her friend. Kate knew the pain and uncertainty that comes with family troubles.

She could also do with something to keep her busy, keep her mind occupied, keep it from spiralling into constantly thinking about the whole Caz situation. This planning just might do the trick.

She was made slightly nervous, though, at the fact that Zeedan had, not so subtly, nudged her towards enlisting his wife Rana to help. He sounded quite keen for her to get acquainted with his wife.

There were a lot of Weatherfield’s residents that Kate was close to, but she had never really felt a tangible connection to most of them. That’s not to say that she didn’t like them—she did, well enough. But, she enjoyed meeting new people, too. She liked, and was quite fascinated by, the process of getting to know them; their personality quirks, their sense of humour, finding out what makes them ‘tick.’ It was for these reasons that she felt she was ready to pursue the fact that she could, indeed, do with another friend. 

She had never been properly introduced to Mrs. Nazir. She wasn’t quite sure how they had never gotten round to meeting each other, Rana had lived here for nearly a year now, and Weatherfield wasn’t exactly the biggest place in the world.

Having heard Alya’s tales of Rana’s escapades, what they got up to in their younger, perhaps less inhibited and carefree days, Kate would be lying if she said she wasn’t interested in what made Rana so enticing. She wanted to find out if the stories were true. She also wondered whether Alya had purposefully omitted any, or perhaps all, tales that painted herself in a particularly sordid way.

She had once tried to get Alya to spill all the details on a night out, a few months ago. Alya had remained tight lipped, though, even whilst Kate went on about how she would never tell anyone and how she was a master of keeping secrets. Alya had remarked that the last secret Kate had tried to conceal was her using up the last of the milk, and she had come clean within almost seconds of seeing Alya’s ‘stern face.’ Kate had slurred her disagreement but fell asleep soon after. It was a wonder that Kate remembered it at all, the amount she had been drinking. This was just after she had found out her fiance was a psychopath, though, so she felt she could justify it.

Naturally, based on these stories, she had a ‘Rana’ figure in her mind. This ‘Rana’ was reminiscent of the kind of woman that, in Kate’s student days, all the girls would have wanted to be, and all the boys would have wanted to be with. Although Kate would probably be in the latter category.

This ‘Rana’ would undoubtedly frequent the most opulent bars, party with businessmen, and then when the next night rolled around, and he asked for her number, she would send him and his expensive suit packing without so much as a glance in his direction. After the game was won, she would just move on to the next one. There would, invariably, always be a next one. This ‘Rana’ just so happened to be the embodiment of a younger Kate’s dream, the unattainable woman that seemed to always have a lingering ‘maybe,’ or a ‘what if,’ presence around them. Kate didn’t, and couldn’t deal with those girls anymore. Too much heartache.

-

Kate didn’t really know what to expect as she rang on the doorbell, but she soothed her own apprehensiveness by assuming that this girl couldn’t be too bad if she was Alya’s closest and oldest friend—she trusted Alya’s judgement, for the most part. 

Rana opened the door and as soon as Kate stepped into the threshold, all of her preconceived notions flew out of it. 

She acknowledged that Rana wasn’t going to have been dressed up, all heavy eyeliner and heels—it was Monday night, after all—but maybe she was expecting the figure that she had created in her imagination to be standing in front of her. 

Kate had eyes. She was in awe of Rana. The real life, tangible, not imaginary nor fictitious Rana. Kate thought she looked like she had walked off of the front page of Vogue—a photographer’s dream, all chiseled cheekbones and high eyebrows. Even with her laid back, dressed down appearance, she seemed to thrum with vitality, and Kate was taken aback by these two things living so perfectly in tandem with each other. It made her feel nervous and at ease all at the same time.

“Sorry to trouble you.” Kate said lightly, being ushered into the house.

“Oh, don’t be silly.” Rana assured her with a flick of a recently manicured hand.

Kate’s nerves got the better of her as she wrung her hands together and fiddled with her bag, a total contrast to the relaxed Rana who had just collapsed onto her sofa. “I just knew Alya was out with, erm, Yasmeen and, er, Zeedan.” She stumbled over the names of the people she had known for long enough to not stumble over.

She found herself perched on the arm of an armchair, now too invested in her uncomfortable position to either stand back up or move to sit in the actual seat.

“Celebrating their reconciliation.” Rana casually told her, with a comforting smile.

“I know, ain’t it brilliant!” Kate exclaimed happily.

Rana hummed in acknowledgement and Kate took it as a signal to carry on.

“Anyway, I guessed you’d be on your own, and I thought maybe,” She shrugged, “I could help with Alya’s birthday plans.” She wasn’t sure how Rana would react to this suggestion. 

Something akin to recognition flashed across Rana’s features as she registered that this is why Kate had come. “Oh, we normally take her for a meal and then on to a club.” 

“Yeah, she said that.” Kate looked playfully mischievous. “I thought maybe we could do something different.” Something told Rana that this wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing, that Kate had been pondering this for a while.

“Hmm, like what?” Rana was open and receptive to the idea, which pleased Kate. 

“I dunno, I thought we could tell her that no one could make it, and then we all show up and surprise her.” 

“Ah, we did that once and,” Rana told her with a slight wince, looking like she was reliving the events, “she arranged to do something else.” She gave Kate an empathetic smile. 

Rana had been head, and sometimes the only member, of Alya’s—metaphorical—birthday planning committee for a long, long time, so she knew how hard it was to find a group activity that was enjoyable for someone in their twenties who doesn’t drink. 

“Roller disco?” Kate suggested. Rana looked unconvinced.

“Yeah,” Kate quickly backtracked, sheepish but making light out of her blunder. “It was dying in my mouth as I said it.” Both girls laughed and any awkwardness that comes hand in hand with meeting someone for the first time vanished. Rana looked around her living room, as if in search of any creative outlet that could facilitate birthday planning. She, predictably, didn’t find any. 

“We could do this over a drink if you like? The pub might give us some inspiration.” She offered, hoping Kate would say yes. 

“Yeah.” Kate agreed, hastily adding, “If you’re not too busy.” 

“After the day I’ve had I could use one,” Rana reassured her. She got up, patting Kate’s knee in confirmation. “I’ll be two secs.”

“Okay.” Kate said quickly, with a smile, her gaze never leaving Rana’s figure as she bounded up the stairs.

Kate took in her surroundings. Normally she’d kill the time by looking at her phone but, strangely enough, she didn’t have the urge to. It was probably a good thing. It would only be a message from Nick about shifts at The Bistro anyway, or a Facebook update on the wedding from Jenny. She could just picture it now: ‘Just ordered the loveliest chiffon tablecloths! Handcrafted in the Himalayas, zero carbon emissions produced in making them!’ Kate didn’t think that, even in this imaginary situation, Jenny much cared about carbon emissions. 

-

She’d always liked the decor in the Nazir household, figuring it was the result of Yasmeens’ domestic talents. She couldn’t imagine Zeedan, or Rana, actually, eagerly thumbing through pages upon pages of catalogues, to buy the perfect artisan curtains in order to reach peak artful living standards, or turning all the sofas to be at right angles so they were perfectly feng shui. The closest Zeedan got to interior design was probably watching DIY: SOS or Grand Designs every once in a blue moon. Even that she pictured him doing begrudgingly.

She found herself wondering of Rana’s presence in the design, taking note of the lack of photographs featuring her, and of the fact that the space hadn’t changed much since the last time she was here, before Rana had moved in. 

If they hadn’t only just met, Kate would probably use the time wandering about the living area, searching for little nick nacks and such like, asking the stories behind whatever items she found. But, since they had indeed only just met, Kate thought it rude to rummage. She didn’t want to overstep the mark.

-

Kate was pulled out of her head by the sound of footsteps down the stairs. She stood up and as Rana came into view, Kate was caught unawares by Rana’s appearance for the second time that night. 

“Sorry about that.” Rana smiled apologetically. 

“That,” Kate stated, gesturing to the stairs, “was nothing. If only you knew the pain of waiting for Alya to get ready…” She shook her head in mock overt annoyance, searching for the words to describe her friend’s rather negative character trait, but smiling because in essence it really was quite funny. There had been many times when Alya had saved Kate from awkward run-ins with one night stands through dashing into Alya’s bedroom whenever she guessed that she was in the bathroom. 

“The sheer amount of time she spends hogging the bathroom in the morning never ceases to amaze me, honestly, that pales in comparison to her.”

Rana laughed, and the melodious sound left a ringing in Kate’s ears that was not entirely unwelcome. “Oh trust me, I feel your pain. A right nightmare, that one. I could spend hours regaling you with all the gory details!” She grabbed her phone and what Kate assumed to be house keys from the coffee table. “Anyway, you good to go?”

“Sure,” Words danced in Kate’s mind as she thought of something to say to compliment the girl standing in front of her but her mouth fumbled them all, caught between the gaps in her teeth. She settled for the safe option: “Nice jacket, where’d you get it from?”

-

Kate had one question in her mind: What was a girl like Rana doing in a place like this? Kate adored Weatherfield with every fibre of her being but, she wasn’t an idiot. It wasn’t the place of dreams. It wasn’t the hustle and bustle that Kate was sure a girl like Rana would thrive upon. But she couldn’t very well ask Rana that. Not now, not making the short walk to their local, over the cobbled stones that knew an unfathomable number of unutterable secrets. She decided she’d wait until she properly knew the girl to be asking those sorts of questions. 

Her last relationship choice would tell you different, but Kate liked to think that she was a good judge of character. Blaming herself was top of the list of things that she wasn’t supposed to do, but how could she not? Everyone else could, and did, see the red flags from a mile away. 

It was this that made Kate theorise that maybe she had got this Rana girl all wrong.

The Rovers was busy, and despite her working at The Bistro, Kate couldn’t help but be pleased. It was nice to see her local so popular, on a Monday especially.

“So, how did you and Alya meet?” Kate asked. She, of course, already knew the answer to that one, but it was a safe question to ask and continue to break the ice that was slowly melting as the minutes ticked by.

“At Uni. Properly, anyway—we knew of each other for a couple years before that, you know? Through mutual friends and things…” She took a sip of her drink, a rum and coke, Kate had noted. “Families hung around in the same circles.” 

Kate thought that Rana took on a tone that was almost bitter when she said the last sentence, taking note that family was probably a touchy subject for her. She resigned herself to make sure to question her further when they got to know each other a bit better, or just let her talk when she’s good and ready. 

“But,” Rana smiled over the top of her drink, her eyes never leaving Kate as she sipped it, in the way that some girls do. It sent shivers down Kate’s spine. “I’m guessing you knew some of that already.” Her sudden air of confidence wasn’t going amiss by Kate.

She was caught red handed. Or orange handed, since she technically didn’t know the entire story of how they met. Kate laughed. “You’re right. Can’t say I didn’t. Just wanted to hear it from you, I guess. That weird?”

“No, not at all. At least, I don’t think so.” They both sipped their drinks. Rana continued. “What about you, how did you meet her?”

-

“We could always take her up in a hot air balloon?”

Rana looked at her incredulously. “You must be joking, ‘We could always?’ ” She imitated, laughing, “I think the wine’s gone to your head.” She said, nodding to Kate’s recently refilled glass of red. “You’d have a job getting me in one of those anyway, the hulking great things.” 

“Cor, get you, wouldn’t peg you as a scaredy cat!” 

“Me? Never. I’d totally do it…” Rana thought for a moment before drawling out, “Couple more drinks and you never know what I’ll do.” She winked at Kate and laughed a laugh that was the complete opposite of haughty, the kind of laugh that’s contagious. Kate fought an urge to retort back in an equally flirty manner, instead resorting to laughing along with her. 

“Fat chance of that. Too much of a wuss, you are.” Kate joked. “I’ll be sure to tell Zee next time I see him, recommend it to him as a romantic getaway. Literally.”

Rana paused, fiddling with the frayed coasters on the table. “If we were to do it for Alya, wouldn’t it be dark anyway?” She asked, seriously.

Kate laughed and Rana blushed, knowing she was about to be very wrong. “No, you dafty, we’d do it Saturday, in the day! Unless you fancy going two thousand feet high in the night? It’d be bloody freezing! It is February, after all!”

“Okay, okay. We get it. I’m wrong, but wouldn’t it be expensive?”

“No, not if there’s enough of us,” she looked across at the slots machine, reminding her of money, “Oh, actually, I have to work.” Kate was genuinely quite disappointed. She knew, in the end, she could have persuaded Rana to go on a hot air balloon.


End file.
